A friend and her husband recently took the scenic route from Boston back to their home in New York, making a few stops along the way. Knowing how strongly I feel about the importance of eating well, exercise, and keeping weight at a reasonable level, she sent me this description of what she saw at one of the places they stopped to eat lunch, somewhere in the midwest:

“The place — which seats 500 — was filled with mostly local residents eating buffet brunch. Here’s the shocker: 90 percent were 50 to 70 and 90 percent were morbidly obese. Wish I had taken some pics to illustrate how alarming the scene was.”

Are You A Statistic?

You do not want to be part of that “90 percent were morbidly obese” group. If you’re in it, get out.

If you’ve been slowly inching your way there and find you’re standing on the precipice, knowing you could either fall in or back out slowly, which will you choose?

Love Who You Are Now

It’s not about wanting to mirror the outlandishly unrealistic images of women in the media or having the body you had in college. Because accepting and loving who you are now is one of the essential keys to happiness.

The World Is Getting Fatter. Are You?

What it comes down to is this: if you are overweight or obese, you have a much higher risk for developing debilitating, possibly fatal, diseases and health issues in the future — one of the most serious threats to financial security you may ever face. A recent report stated that by 2030 the majority of people in the US may be obese, resulting in billions of dollars in treatment and hundreds of billions (yes, hundreds of billions) in lost economic productivity.

What’s Your Excuse?

Countless friends complain about how they just can’t find the time to work out, can’t get motivated to move their bodies, can’t stop themselves from downing those cans of cola (including the diet stuff, which is just as bad). Just can’t, can’t, can’t.

Then they wonder why their doctors put them on high blood pressure meds, warn them about becoming diabetic, worry about their lack of muscle strength which could lead to osteoporosis, and measure their waists with a concerned frown.

Do You Love Yourself Enough to Care for Yourself? Prove it

I believe in self-love as a key to happiness and wellbeing, but I believe in self-care even more.

Get With the Plan

If you profess to love yourself — and I hope you do — then prove it by taking control of your health and life right now, starting with these three no-brainer ways to a better body:

Move your body every day: Everyone is busy, and often overwhelmed by the daily demands of life. But that’s no excuse to stop taking care of yourself. If you can walk, you can eventually build up to a little running, interspersed with walk breaks. For tips on how to get started, click here.

Eat better, eat less: There’s no magic to losing weight: you have to discipline yourself to eat less, and everything you do eat should serve to fuel your body, not deplete it of energy.

Strengthen your muscles to avoid osteoporosis. There’s absolutely no excuse to not do essential exercises. You can do them anywhere, anytime, but correct form is key.

If you can get into a routine, you’ll be even closer to a better, stronger, fitter, healthier body.

Until next time, remember this: We can’t control getting older . . . but . . . we can control how we do it!